Blame Bush – 99% of his tax cuts are now permanent

We are subjected to such one-sided reporting in this country that sometimes we don’t even recognize a win. I’d seen a few blips on Twitter about the 99%, but it had not soaked in until I read this article from Forbes. (You get a three second advert first. Sorry about that.)

Bush bashing from the left has been replaced by Boehner bashing from the right. This article took me to a quiet corner and reminded me Boehner may be crazy like a fox.

A couple of thoughts. I often cry out for term limits, but there’s no way a House member with six years experience would have pulled that off. Long memory is very important in politics. I show you that now and then with some of the local posts I make. The how and why of a decision are often buried in years of wrong turns. Someone needs to know the maze, and if we establish term limits, then only the staff is left with the long-term memory. Do we want elected that serve only as a cover for the knowledgeable staffers?

My next thought is how happy I am to be careening towards sequestration. These cuts are decided. They will not be argued again. It’s gonna hurt. Our economy will likely continue to contract, and we are probably looking at another technical recession as the new changes become integrated, but it has to be done.

Do any of you remember the movie Wall-E? That society jettisoned off the planet after they’d ruined it. A lot of the environmental types want you to think it was all about them, but the story line I remember best is the group up in the spacecraft wearing goggles and so out of shape they couldn’t even walk anymore. There is a class of people just like that in our America today. No, I’m not talking about girth, I’m arguing the dependency on a government for a lifestyle that’s given but not earned.

I’m going to break with tradition and post an email that popped into my inbox this morning. There’s no way to prove it. But there’s no way to disprove it either. And if, like me, you cross into the world of those basking in entitled living now and then, you know it happens.

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As a Realtor for the past 28 years I thought I’d seen or heard it all Until now.
I was showing homes in Pontiac , MI. one afternoon recently and showed up at a home at the 4:00 pm time my appointment was scheduled for. After I woke up the homeowner, she let us in and then proceeded to tell my buyers and I that she has already entered into a contract to sell the home on a short-sale. (A short-sale is a sale where the banks accepts less money than is owed on the home). After some chit-chat, she proceeded to tell us that she and her sister (who also lived in the area) were buying each other’s homes via the short-sale process. I mentioned to her that I thought relatives could not be involved in those transactions. She smiled and said “We have two different last names so no one knows the difference”. She went on to tell us that each of them owed over 100K on their homes and were in the process of buying each other’s homes for about 10-15K cash. To top it off, they were each receiving $3,000.00 in government provided relocation assistance at the closing.

My buyers and I were amazed that she was outright admitting to fraud and yet, she continued. She began to tell us that the best part of her scheme was that because they currently were not working that they (both) are now receiving Section 8 Vouchers. I said I thought those were for renters and she said That’s the best part; me and my sister are going to be renting each other’s homes so we don’t even have to move, and Obama is going to give us each $800.00 a month to pay the rent! She then picked up a picture she had framed of Obama and did a little happy dance around her living room and while she kissed the picture she was singing “Thank you Obama…. thank you Obama.”

So here is the bottom line Both of these scammers got at least $80,000.00 in debt forgiven, $3,000.00 in cash for relocation (when in fact they did not relocate) and to boot, you and I will now be paying (through our taxes) $1,600.00 in rent for each them each and every month…. perhaps forever!

Is it any wonder why so many people have decided that all they have to do is VOTE for the Democrats and they will be taken care of for life at the expense of the taxpayers? I would not be at all surprised if they are receiving food stamps and whatever other programs are available for anyone who is willing to lie to get assistance.

These women went from working and paying about $900.00 each in mortgage payments to staying home and getting paid $800.00 each per month to live in the same home they had been living in and all they had to do was lie on a few papers. This craziness has to stop! I’m sure this kind of fraud is going on each and every day all across the country and no one wants to touch the subject of entitlements because they might OFFEND someone or lose a vote or two.

By the way… she had an almost new SUV in the driveway, three flat screen TV’s and a very nice computer set up in her living room which was furnished entirely with nice leather furniture.

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There’s need, but then there’s greed. Don’t feed the greed. With any luck the mandatory cuts in March will start the processing of popping the easy living bubble.

“according to the IRS, the cheapest health care policy for an average family will be $20,000 starting in 2016″, if only an average family of 5 was 1. without minimum essential coverage and 2. annual income of $120,00. The only logical way this family wasn’t already providing health insurance is due to severe pre-existing conditions making this plan look cheap. Or these worthless parents could forgo insurance and simply pay a fine of $2085

I’m generally inclined to agree with you on sequestration, if only because it forces the federal government to cut an area, defense spending, that absolutely has to be a part of any solution and is an area that for many reasons politicians are terrified to take on. Our economy doesn’t have the resources to provide the services of most modern democracies and also outspend the next fourteen highest nations in defense spending combined.

That said, I’m also not sold that cementing the Bush tax cuts is great economic policy either. At some point, Americans have to come to terms with the fact that the services they want have to be paid for by someone, and that someone has to be them. I’m not looking to open a debate on which flavors of social democracy are best, but I will say that those that function best (in terms of citizen approval and happiness scores) are those in which everyday people have bought in to the reality that those services (be it free college education, generous maternity leave, universal health care) need to be paid for by the population as a whole.

This is where the whole thing breaks down in America. People believe they can have what the neighbors have but that someone else can buy it for them. And politicians, valuing their own survival, continue to perpetuate the myth that you can shelter the vast majority of consumers from the cost of their goods and services.